Cyber Monday Sets New Records, But For How Long?
First there was Black Friday, now there is Cyber Monday. Perfect for those of us who love good deals, yet hate to leave our houses and deal with people.
I have never been out on Black Friday. The images of people pushing and shoving, coupled with the gross consumerism is enough to make me stay home and vow to whittle all my children’s presents out of sticks I find in my yard.
Luckily for my children I usually shop in early November.
Invented by retailers just a few years ago, Cyber Monday was a way for retailers to create a buzz around shopping online. Retailers are counting on people going back to work on Monday, logging onto their computers, and shopping. Excuse me, I thought that people were actually working. Who knew! According to the research firm comScore, 60% of shoppers were shopping from their work computers.
Shop.org reported that 72 percent of online retailers ran special promotions for Cyber Monday this year, up from nearly 43 percent just two years ago.
According to an article at abcnews:
Last year, Cyber Monday saw $608 million in online retail spending, which was the heaviest online shopping day on record at the time, Lipsman said.
But that record didn’t last long.
In the next month or so, there were 11 days that broke that record. The heaviest day of them all was Dec. 13, with $667 million in spending.
Why Dec 13? The last day for an item to be shipped in time for Christmas using standard shipping methods.
But what about this year?
U.S. online shoppers spent a record $733 million this year according to market research firm comScore Inc, up 21% from last year. Not surprisingly, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Dell and Best Buy were the most heavily trafficked sites. Dell and Best Buy for their cheap laptops.
Although you can forget about using the free shipping option at Amazon and expect your items in time for Christmas. On a personal note, I placed an order from Amazon a full SEVEN weeks before Christmas and they would not guarantee shipping before Christmas. In fact it said February 6th as a guaranteed ship date. Once I paid a boatload of money for shipping I could have it before Christmas. I am sure the excessive shipping charges wiped out most of the savings on the items. But at that point I already had put everything into my cart, and really had shopping fatigue. Next year I will be avoiding Amazon during the months of November and December. I wonder how my family would feel about moving Christmas to February?
Let’s see what happens this December 13th. Will online shoppers come back for more like past years? Only time will tell.
